photographs – ScaredyCatFilms

Collings Foundation WW2 and Hanger

In October 2015, my friend Mark and I went to Stow Massachusetts on a sunny Saturday to watch the Collings Foundation World War 2 re-enactment and walk the grounds and hanger to view all the neat things on site. There are pictures of the WW2 re-enactment on my flickr page, I wanted to post some of the other pictures of the fantastic car collection in the hanger on this site. There is a large aircraft hanger with multiple levels that houses some airplanes, tanks, heavy vehicles, and race cars.

View into the hanger from the front.

SdKfz 8 12 Ton Prime Mover, Germany

Here are some of the really neat cars that were stored on the upper levels of the hanger.

Riley & Scott Mk III / Ford, 1996. Riley & Scpott’s legacy goes back to the Ford GT MkIV Coyote, so when it came time to produce a new prototype for international sports car racing they were up to the challenge. R&S MkIII’s went on to forge a legacy of winning that is only equaled by the legendary Prosche 962. The Dyson team commissioned R&S to produce 001 in 1994 with a Ford powerplant. The chassis proceeded to win over ten races for the Dyson team including the 1997 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona and runner up in the 12 hours of Sebring and the Prototype championship. The car remained a front runner until 2001 when it retired after leading Daytona. It is believed that 001 led more laps at Daytona than any other car in history. Drivers have included: James Weaver, Andy Wallace, Elliot Forbes-Robinson, Rob Dyson, Hurley Haywood, and Derrick Bell.

Lola / Ford XB Indy Car 1995. The 1995 Lola Ford was produced for the Championship winning Newman-Haas team for the 1995 season with Michael Andretti. Some of racing’s greatest names have been associated with this car, Paul Newman and Carl Haas as owners and Michael Andretti as the driver. Michael holds more Indycar wins than any other driver in history. At the Toronto Grand Prix he notched up yet another victory in this particular car. Micahel finished 3rd in the Championship in the last season that included the Indy 500 in which he was leading when he dropped out due to a mechanical failure.

Gurney Eagle Turbo Offy 1972. One of America’s most famous drivers, Dan Gurney, winner of the 24-Hours of Le Mans and the only American to win a Grand Prix in a car of his own construction took that experience and started Eagle. The Gurney Eagle Indy Car ranks amongst the most successful in Brickyard history. This particular car was sold to the famous Leader Cards Racing Team of A.J. Watson. The car raced at Indianapolis multiple times and in 1980 became the last ever Offenhauser powerd car qualified for the 500-mile race, heralding the end of an era. Powered by a 168 cu. Inch turbocharged Offenhauser engine producing in excess of 800 horsepower.

Penske PC-9 Indy Car 1980. Built by Penske in Poole, England for Mario Andretti who teamed with Rick Mears and Al Unser when his Formula 1 schedule would permit. This was the second season that Mario Andretti a F-1 world champion, Indy 500 winner, Indycar Champion, NASCAR winner, and winner in every racing category that had wheels teamed with the Penske team, which has won more Indy 500’s than any other team. Indy 500: Mario qualified 2nd fot the great race but failed to finish when his Cosworth DFX failed. Michigan 500 – Mario captured the pole and won the other 500 mile race. Copa 125 Rick Mears, a four time Indy 500 winner, captures a win at CART’s first ever international race. This chassis is the only Indycar in history to have race wins with both Mario Andretti and Rick Mears, arguably Indy’s most legendary drivers.

More of the cars in the museum.

Over all a pretty neat place to visit.

Critter Cam

For Christmas this year I was able to pick up 2 refurbished “Game Cameras” at a very reasonable price. I gave one to my Mom and Dad and one to Tracy for Christmas. Cue the excitement as we wait and see what we can capture with the cameras. We stuck our camera outside at the beginning of February and aimed it at our bird feeders and birdbath water. We caught deer photos the second night the camera was out there. The night mode is pretty good. So far, the deer seem really interested in it, as we have captured a few pictures that appear to be the deer looking right at it or sniffing it. One photo even has one of the cat’s two eyes watching out the sliding glass door. Should provide fun for months to come. Here’s a few photos.

Deer Photo	Deer camera
Monkey Eyes	Backyard Deer

December Ice Storm

The ice storm that hit Rochester overnight didn’t turn out all that bad, and if there had been a little more snow on the ground to make it less dreary, it could have been downright beautiful. It looks like we got between 1 to 2 inches of rain in the past few days, and with all the snow melt from last week’s storms there is quite a bit of water out there. I took a little time to walk around a bit, and here are a few photos of the ice on the trees.

Ice on the Trees	Ice on the Trees
Ice on the Trees	Ice Buds
Ice on the Trees	ice on the Bushes
Ice Bushes	Ice Trees

Florida 2013 – Key Largo

First post of 2013, it’s been a busy month. The first week of February my mom, dad, and I traveled to Key largo for vacation. We stayed at the Key Lime sailing club, which had a ton of fun stuff for us to do out on the bay, yes, including sailing. We went snorkeling twice which was awesome both times. We also went to the Florida Everglades where we saw tons of neat birds and alligators. It was a really great trip. There are a ton of pictures in my flickr gallery, and here are but a few of them.

Blue Heron in a tree, Florida Everglades.	Alligators? Yeah, we saw those, Florida Everglades.
Great Egret with a catfish.	Green Heron.
Sunset at Key Largo.	The pelican dance.
Purple Gallinule

Pentagon 9/11 and Air Force Memorials

So I’ve been trying off and on for a couple years now to make it to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and the Air Force Memorial, which dominates the sky line in the same area. Spent an hour circling the Pentagon in my rental car once but never could find the place to park. Turns out, there wasn’t a place to park, and you need to park on the opposite side of 395 at the Crystal City Mall area and walk under the highway to get to the memorial. This past weekend was a beautiful sunny fall day and I managed to make my way over to the 9/11 memorial and the Air Force Memorial. Both were well thought out. Here’s a few photos from my trip.

Entering Pentagon Memorial	Looking back to the entrance
View towards the Pentagon

The Air Force Memorial is just a short distance away, by car. I showed up just in time to be alone for a bit, before a few cars showed up. The memorial area is surrounded by sycamore trees and the parking area is really nice. The memorial stands over 200 feet tall, too tall to get into one photo so close. It was nicely done. Right when I left 3 tour buses showed up! The memorial is on a hill overlooking all of DC, so its a neat place to see.

washington monument — Washington Monument

For more information about the Air Force Memorial, visit the official site.

State College Visit

I went to visit my sister in State College this summer, and as I like to do, we took a trip to the Penn State Arboretum to look at the pumpkins and plants that were blooming. This time the place looked better than ever, with all kinds of flowers still blooming, pumpkins all over, and really nice weather too. had a great time. Didn’t get my photos up on flickr yet, so here’s a few from the trip.

Fancy Pumpkins	Water Lily
Meredith in the big chair	Gardens ay Penn State
Colorful plants	The succulent pot

Saratoga 2012

This was a banner year for Saratoga trips, as I made it out for 4 of the 7 racing weekends. I had a great time and was able to stay with my friends Mark and Melody in their camper at a nearby campground. Saved a fortune on hotel rooms. There was a lot of great racing, and although I didn’t win money by the last day of the meet, I did place a lot of bets, and only ended up down $40. Not bad for 8 days racing.

All of my photos are up in my flickr gallery, but I’ll post one photo from each week to keep you interested. Jim Dandy day started out nice, but then rain moved in, and by the 5th race it was pouring out. Hiked the camera back out to the car only to have it clear up a few races later for some really nice races later that day. We saw a lot of great horses this season, Fort Larned (eventual Breeders Cup Classic Winner), Alpha and Golden Ticket battling to finish in a dead heat in the $1 million dollar Travers Stakes. Mucho Macho Man and To Honor and Serve in the Woodward. A really great season that I will remember fondly for a long time.

2012 at the Spa	Bernard baruch winner Dominus
Travers Dead Heat	Mucho macho Man with To Honor and Serve

All the photos from this years Saratoga meet are on my flickr page.

Geneseo Air Show 2012

Mark and I went to Geneseo this summer to see the air show again because we had so much fun 2 years ago. This year, despite almost no chance of rain, we were treated to a full day of overcast and rainy weather. Despite the 2+ hour rain delay, we got a pretty good show and met some of the re-enactors as well. It was a pretty fun time. There are a few more photos in my flickr gallery. This year I made a bigger effort to try and improve my photography by trying to get the propellers in motion, with not so good results. I ended up with most of my attempts over exposed, and blurry. Live to try again I guess. Here’s a few photos from the day.

Canadian Harvards	Jell bean Team
Paratroop Drop	Stearman Training Aircraft
The Stearmans circle the field.

As always, more photos in my flickr gallery.

Stuart Horse Trials 2012

This summer I made the trip across town to Victor, NY to photograph the Stuart Horse Trials on a hot Saturday morning. The event schedule was actually moved up because of the heat expected that day. Despite my camera acting up, I got a lot of neat photos and saw a lot of beautiful horses. As always, here are a few photographs in the blog, and there are more in my flickr gallery.

Jumping into the hazard.	Spotted horse in the water hazard.
Into the water hazard.	Across the water hazard.
Coming Right At You	The splash zone!

There are, of course, additional photos of many of the competitors in my flickr gallery of the 2012 Stuart Horse Trials.

Charlotte Beach

This summer I took a walk around Charlotte pier and beach on what turned out to be quite the stormy day. Temps were high when the sun was out. I managed to drive up in the rain, walk around in the sun and clouds, and then leave right when a fierce storm approached. Got some great infrared and regular photographs. My plan was to return again later in the summer a do a ride down the river trail. Haven’t done that yet. These photos were taken June 3rd.